Hobbit-ish Potpurri: A Mystery & A Meltdown

Howdy Humble Readers...

How are you all doing?  You may (or most likely not) be wondering where I've been for more than a week.  I suppose you all aren't mind readers, so you don't know about the four or five posts that I have written in my head... but they're there.  I've just been remarkably uninspired when it comes to a lot of things this past week or so, and I apologize for dropping off the face of the earth.

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We are sssssllllllooooowwwwwwlllyy moving toward spring here in the Shire.  We've had a lot of Chinook winds lately, and not much in the way of snow.  Temps are still below freezing most days, but not too terribly far below.  And by the end of the month, we should be seeing a warm up.  I just can't wait for all the ice and snow to melt and dry up.  I'm getting the ridiculous urge to plant something, but I don't dare until after the long weekend in May (and even that's no guarantee around here... we get snow in June on a semi-regular basis).

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I finally finished reading The Book Thief last night, sobbing through the ending.  I can safely say that I loved this book, even though I didn't enjoy it.  Does that make any sense?  It was a sad, dark story.  How can a story narrated by Death be anything but, right?  I think that's why it took me so long to read it.  I could only take it in small doses.  The over-arching message about the power of words really spoke to me, and I was very moved by the characters.

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As an aside about The Book Thief... I bought my copy at a thrift store, so I wasn't at all surprised to find someone's notes and highlights in it.  I think it may have been used by a student at some point because all of the words/passages highlighted looked to be words that perhaps needed to be looked up in a dictionary or a part of a vocabulary list.  What did surprise me was something that I found inside the book, about a third of the way through it...

On the back of the picture it's dated May 11, 1963, and it's stamped by the photographer's studio (Howard's Photographic Studio in the Toronto area) and even includes an old-style phone number... Belmont 1-0497.  I googled all the info on the back of the photo, just to see if I could find anything, but nothing of interest came up.  I'm intrigued by this photo... who is he?  How did his picture end up in a relatively new book I found in a thrift store here in the shire, three provinces away and 50 years after it was taken? 

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Weight loss has plateaued again.  I seem to be in a bit of a pattern.  I'll lose anywhere between 2-5 pounds relatively quickly, and then I'll plateau for a few weeks.  Interestingly, my rings are all a fair bit looser than they were last month.  I can actually move all my rings up one finger fairly comfortably. 

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After a bit of a meltdown last week, and a heart to heart with my Beloved, we have recognized aloud (and that's an important distinction... we had both been thinking it, but neither had said it) that we haven't been giving our relationship what it needs.  Between my winter doldrums and caring for the wee-lings everyday and his new job and course work, we just haven't been connecting a lot lately.  We are recommitted to making time for each other on a regular basis.  For my Beloved, that means that he's going to be giving up a little side job he's had for a while as the bookkeeper for our condo board.  It didn't take a lot of time, but when so much of his time is taken with his course work, that extra few hours a month means a lot.  For me, it means being much more diligent about making sure that I get all my 'must-dos' done during the week, so that we can make the most of our weekends. 

This weekend, we are going to be spending almost all day out together, without the wee-lings.  My  MIL is coming up in the morning on Saturday, and she's going to spend all day and evening with the wee-lings so that we can go out and have fun.  I'm not really sure what we're going to do, other than our regular dinner and a movie, but I will find something for us to do.  :)